Lamp-making machinery



Jul 28, 1925. 1,547,735

' R. W. CONN LAMP MAKING MACHINERY Fil ed May 25, 1923 i I 7 I INVENTOR ROBERT w. CONNN ATTORNEY Patented July 28, 1925.

.UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT WILLIAM coNN, or NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, AssIGNoR To WESTINGHOUSE LAMP COMPANY, A CORPORATION or PENNSYLVANIA.

LAMP-MAKING, MACHINERY.

Application filed May 2a, 1923. Serial No. 640,845.

To all whom it may concern:

l Be it known that I, ROBERT WILLIAM CONN, a citizen of theUnited States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lamp- Making Machinery, of which the following is a specification.

This invention'relates to the manufacture of incandescent electric lamps and more particularly to machines termed sealing-in machines. I

An object of the invention is to provide a sealing-in head adapted to support an incandescent lamp bulb' and to adjust the bulb within the head to bring the axial line of the bulb substantially coincident with the axial line of the head.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide a sealing-in head to which a bulb may be quickly applied, temporarily adjusted and subsequently re-adjusted to elfect an alignment of its axis with the axial line of the head.

A further object of theinvention is to provide a sealing-in machine in which a plurality of heads may be provided with means for automatically re-adjusting lamp bulbs, subesquent to the insertion of the bulbs in the heads.

A still further object of the inventionis to provide a sealing-in machine in which a pair of contact members may be automatically operated to simultaneously engage with the neck portion of a bulb and re-adjust the bulb to bring the axial line thereof coincident with tihe axial line of a sealing-in head.

Other objects and advantages will be disclosed as the description proceeds.

Sealing-in machines, as known in the lamp art. are employed for sealing lamp-mounts to the necks of lamp bulbs. One type of machine used, employs a rotary carrier or conveyor provided with a plurality of heads which are rotatably positioned at spaced in-' with that of the mount, which iscoincident' with the axial line of the head.

Various mechanisms have been employed for supporting a lamp bulb, particularly a sealing-in head as set forth in copending application to J. J. Higgins, Serial No. 467,- 834, filed May 9, 1921, sealing-in machines for electric lamps, and assigned to the VVestinghouse Lamp Company.

The enlarged portion of the bulb is supported by contact memberswhich, to a certain degree, align the bulb within the head. However, since the neck of the bulb is comparatively long, any slight variation in the position of the bulb within the supports, is multiplied at the lower end of the neck portion. It becomes desirable, therefore,'to provide an additional means for adjusting the neck to bring it to the proper position.

The present invention therefore, aims to adjust the bulb subsequent to its disposition upon a stationary support. It also provides means which will accurately engage and adjust the bulb, irrespective of whether the diameter of the neck varies in different bulbs. Such variation in the diameter of the necks of bulbs is found to be prevalent and considerable advantage is, therefore, afforded by the provision of contact members which will operate to adjust bulbs in proper relation to the sealing-in head, without manual adjustment when the diameters of the necks of the bulbs vary.

The present embodiment of the invention may comprise a rotatable sealing-in head mounted upon the usual form of rotary con.- veyor. The head may be provided with a support or adapter which provides a seat for the bulb. A pair of oscillatory jaws may be mounted, oneon each side of the axial line of the head and so located that they may be moved to make contact with the neck portion of a bulb positioned in the adapter. Each of these jaws may oscillate about a oint and may be either moved in contact with the bulb by manual operation or automatically.

For manually operating the jaws, a suitable hand-lever may be provided and in the case of the automatic operation a floating contact member or cross-head may be pro- Fig. 1 and with the jaws in a different posip tion';

- Fig. 3 is'a fragmentary enlarged side elevation of the head shown in Fig. 1 and viewed in the direction of the arrow X.

As illustrated, the invention is applied to a sealing-in head which may comprise a centrally disposed shaft 2, having an enlarged portion 3 provided with integral projecting arms 4 and 5. Said arms are provided with sockets. 6 and 7, in which are secured vertical posts 8 and 9, respectively. p

a union between the mount and the bulb,

These posts have the upper portion of their lengths of a reduced diameter and a bulb adapter 11 is secured to the upper ends thereof. This adapter, in the present invention, is combined with means for gripping the neck, of the bulb and will presently be more fully described.

'tioned copending application.

The sealing-in head may be ro-tatabljy mounted in a hub 12 of a conveyor 13.

portion only of the conveyor is shown, since it may be of the well known rotary type, similar to that shown'in the above men- The head may be rotated by means of a belt (not shown) provided to engage with the sheave 14 secured to the shaft 2.-

A sealing-in head of the type to which the present invention is applied, is equipped with means for securing a mount 15, as indicated in dotted lines. This mount is of the tipless lamp type and provided with an exhaust tube 16 which is inserted into a mount-support 17. The mount-support illustrated, comprises a mount-rod having means therein for gripping the exhaust tube and securing it to position the mount with its longitudinal axis substantially coincident with the longitudinal axis of the head. Any suitable means for this purpose may be employed, such means usually being so constructed that the exhaust tube may be quickly gripped and released.

The present form of holder is provided with internal means which are actuated by a weighted member 18, which may be lifted for the insertion or removal of an exhaust tube, said member operating by gravity to move other internal parts to grip the exhaust tube. The mount 15' includes, in addition to the exhaust tube 16, a flare tube 19, an arbor 21, as well as the usual support wires 22 which carry a filament 23. Leading-in conductors 24 also constitute one of the component parts of the mount and during the production of a mount these conductors are positioned in the flare tube, the exhaust tube and arbor being also positioned within the flare tubes. Heat is then applied to soften portions of the glass parts and pressure jaws operated to compress heated portions of the parts and thus unite them, and at the same time embed the leading-in conducto-rs in what is termed a press or flare ress. i

It will be noted that the flare tube 19 is provided with a flared-portion 26. flared portion is of'such diameter that when a bulb 27 is positioned in the adapter 11, the flared-portion may be readily united to the neck of the bulb through the application of heat provided by any suitable means, as for instance, a plurality of fires similar to the fire 28 indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

The fires 28 may be employed for efi'ecting after which the head may be moved and other fires may be directed to out off the lower portion 29 of the neck 30 of the bulb,

which portion is termed the cullet.

The adapter 11 is constructed to receive bulbs of various dimensions and may comprise three uprights or plates 31, 32 and 33 radially disposed about a base or open ring 34. The plates may have their inner faces incline with the axial line of the head andv may thus provide a three point contact support for the bulb 27, the neck 30 of which will surround the flare tube.19 of a mount positioned in the mount-support 17.

It will be evident that by reason of the relatively long neck, the necessary accuracy required in properly positioning it has heretofore been diflicult to obtain. Furtherprovided with extended sockets 36 and 37,

in which the posts 8 and 9 are secured. The sockets 36 and 37 may be integral with the base 34 and provided with extended bearings 38 and39. Jaws 41 and 42 are secured to and movable withshafts 43 and 44 disposed in the bearings 38 and 39 re- This be operated to make contact with bulb necks of various sizes, a decrease or increase 1n the size of a bulb neck resultlng in a variation of the angle of the jaws with.

respect to a horizontal plane.

When the device is operated manually,

the jaws may make contact with bulb necks of various diameters, such contacts being made at a plurality of points throughout the angular movement of the jaws. For the purpose of maintaining each jaw, a uniform distance from the axial line of the head during the portions of their movement in which they grip bulbs, a link 47 is provided. This link is pivoted to a lever arm 48 integral with the jaw 41 and a lever arm 49 integral with the jaw 42, the pivoted connection of the link permits its free movement.

When operating the jaws automatically,-

weighted member 54 may be in the form of a flat ring extending to provide a contact surface 57 around the head. The member 54 being slidable vertically, it is obvious that its normal or lower position will, by reason of the rods 52, cause-the jaws 41 and 42 to close.

When the sealing-in head reaches the loading position, however, a stationary cam member 58, suitably securedto a stationary portion of the machine, may be so positioned that a cam face 59 thereof will engage with the face 57 of th ring and as the head is moved with the conveyor to the loading position, the ring will be slowly lifted and the jaws opened. After the head has been loaded and is moved away from the cam face 59, the Weighted-member will actuate to close the jaws upon the neck of a bulb and center it with respect to the head.

If desirable, th device may be operated by hand, in which case'the connecting rods 52 and the weighted member 54 may ybe omitted as well as the cam member 58.

The manual operation of the jaws, may be performed by the actuation of a hand lever 61 which may be provided and secured to the shaft 43 of the jaw 42 An oscillation of the lever 61 will obviously cause the jaws to open or close when the head is employed without the member 54 and the connecting rods 52.

Each of the jaws 41 and 42 are provided with projections 63 and 64 respectively-and the sockets 36 and 37 are provided with lugs 65 and 66. Thus, when the jaws are in a substantially horizontal or closed position, no bulb or one with an undersized neck being in the head, the projections will make contact with the studs and limit the move ment of the aws and maintain them in closed ositio'n.

It Wlll benoted that the bearings for the jaws 41 and 42 are offset with respect to a vertical plane passing through the axial line of the head. Considering the open portion of the ring 34 as the front of the head, the jaws will have a position which brings them an appreciable distance toward the rear of the head. By reason of this arrangement, the operation of inserting a lamp mount into the head is greatly facilifated, since there is less chance of the operator coming in personal contact with the metallic parts or projections of the jaws. This is of considerable advantage, since by reason of the heat applied to the bulb, the structural parts of a head of this character become heated to a relatively high temperature and means for preventing any injury to an operator is therefore important.

In operation, the conveyor is usually moved in a series of intermittent movements and each head issuccessively positioned in front of an operator. When-in this position, the cam face 59' will have engaged with the weighted member 54 and lifted it, thereby causing the jaws to open.

The operator may then insert a mount into the mount-holder and position a bulb thereover with the enlarged portion of the the adapter. permitted to rotate, whereupon the weighted member will be removed from contact with the cam face 59' and will move downwardly, causing the jaws to close upon and center the neck of the bulb with its axial line substantiallv coincident withthe axial line of the head. y

In machinery of the character to which the present invention is applied, it is desirable to eliminate as far as possible. the complicati-ons for multiplicity of moving parts, since the relatively high temperature of the mechanism, due to the heating operations, causes detrimental expansion and contractions, which make impractical, the use of intricate mechanism and close fitting parts.

The simplicity of the present device, is one of its important features, since the va- The conveyor may then be port.

rious movable parts of the present mechanism are of such construction and the bearing portions necessary are so arranged, that the effect of heat thereon, does not have any material eifect'so far as the operations are concerned.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated and described, it is to be understood that modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is: 1. A sealing-in head comprising an adapter for supporting a. bulb and a pair of oscillatory. members adapted to axially i. A sealing-in head comprising a support for a bulb, a mount-holder disposed on the axial line of said head, a pair of jaws adapted to swing in unison and make contact with the neck of a bulb positioned in said support.

5. A sealing-in head comprising a rotatable bulb-support, a mount-holder, a pair of oscillatory contact members and means for automatically moving said members in contact with the neck of a bulb positioned in said support.

6. A sealing-in head comprising means for supporting a bulb, a pair of oscillatory jaws and means connecting said jaws whereby the movement of one jaw results in a like movement of the opposite jaw to secure the neck of a bulb supported in said head.

7 A sealing-in machine comprising a conveyor, a sealing-in head mounted rotatably thereon, said head comprising a bulb-support, a pair of oscillatory jaws adapted to make contact with and align the neck portion of a bulb 'p-ositioned in said support, with the axial line of the head and means for automatically actuating said jaws during the movement of said conveyor.

8. A sealing-in machine comprising a conveyor, a sealing-in headmounted rotatably thereon, said head comprising a bulb sup port, a pair of oscillatory members, linked .connection between said members, means for maintaining the members in an open POS1l310I1 during a loading operation and means for automatically closing said members.

9. A sealing-in machine comprising a conveyor, a sealing-in head mounted rotatably thereon, said head comprising a bulb support and centering jaws, each of said jaws being pivoted at opposite sides of the axial line of'said head,'a weighted member associated with said jaws to. normall maintain them closed and means for liftlng said member to open said jaws.

10. A sealing-in head comprising an adapter for adjusting the enlarged portion of a bulb with its longitudinal axis substantially coincident with the axial line of the head, pivoted jaws associated with said adapter operable. to engage with the neck portion of the bulb to adjust it with its longitudinal axis coincident with the axial line of the head.

11. A sealing-in head comprising a support for adjusting theenlarged portion 0f a bulb with its longitudinal axis substantial- 1y coincident with the axial line of the head, oscillatory members pivoted in hearings at opposite sides of said head, said bearings being offset with respect to the axial line of the head and means for moving said aws simultaneously, for engagement with the neck of a bulb positioned therebetween.

12. A sealing-in head comprising a support for adjusting the enlarged portion of a bulb with its longitudinal axis substantially coincident with the axial line of the head, jaws having V-shaped contact surfaces pivoted at opposite sides of said axial line,

coincident with the axial line of the head,

bell-crank members each having one arm thereof constituting a V-shaped jaw, a link connection between the opposite arms thereof and means for actuating said jaws for tioned therebetween.

14. A sealing-in machine comprising a rotatable carrier and a plurality of heads mounted thereon, means upon said heads for supporting a bulb with the. neck thereofdepending, oscillatory members and means for automatically actuating said members to engage said neck to align ,s'aid bulb with its longitudinal axis coincident with the axis of said head.

15. A sealing-in machine comprising a rotatable carrier and a plurality of heads mounted thereon, means upon said heads for supporting a bulb with the neck thereof depending, oscillatory jaws upon said heads for engaging the necks of said bulbs, a link engagement with the neck of a bulb posiconnection between said aws and means for automatically actuating said jaws for enher to move said jaws in gagement with the neck of said bulb to align the bulb in the head. 7

16. A sealing-in machine comprising a rotatable carrier and a plurality of heads mounted thereon, means upon said heads for supporting-a bulb with the neck thereof depending, jaws disposed on opposite sides of the axial line of said head and adapted to engage with the neck of a bulb positioned in said support, a weighted member adapted to actuate said jaws in one direction and means for auto'matically'moving said memanother. direction.

17. A sealing-in machine comprising a 1'0- tatable carrier and a plurality of heads mounted thereon, means upon said heads for 'the bulb to dinal axis coincident with the axial line of supporting a bulb with the neck thereof depending, jaws pivoted at opposite sides of said bulb neck, ,a link connection between said jaws, a weighted member for maintainin tion 0 a bulb in a head and means for automatically actuating said member to close said jaws for engagement with the neck of align the bulb with its longituthe head. j I

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto said jaws open during the disposi--- subscribed my name this 22nd day of May,

ROBERT WILLIAM CONN. 

